Asked about 2016, Cuomo doesn’t back Clinton

Gov. Andrew Cuomo, one of two New Yorkers mentioned as a Democratic presidential hopeful in 2016, offered nice words but declined to endorse Secretary of State Hillary Clinton if she made another White House run.

“It’s a long way away,” Cuomo said during a radio interview on WGDJ-AM in Albany this morning. “We just elected a president they want to talk about the next election. There’s no doubt that she is incredibly popular, she has great experience, and there’s going to be all sorts of speculation about her political future, and she is the person who is going to make the decision.”

Buzz around Clinton, who is not expected to stay in her post through Barack Obama’s second term, prompted a front-page article in Sunday’s New York Times exploring her possible perches, and how they are restricted until she definitively rules out another presidential campaign. Clinton, a former New York senator, unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for commander-in-chief in 2008. Obama named her secretary of state soon after the election.